29 January 2010

while in Spain, let's do as the Spanish do...

This week has yet again been another busy week for me. Last Friday I got to fly to Madrid for 4 days in order to visit my high school friend Shelly Engelbart. Shelly is also taking a gap year this year, spending 12 months working at a dance studio in Madrid. When I found out that I would be spending over a month in Tenerife, I immediately hoped I would be able to visit her, but I didn't really think the trip would be possible. Thanks to my friend Ram and his ability to find cheap airline tickets, I found out that I could indeed take a weekend trip to Spain!
I woke up early Friday morning in order to walk to the bus station, which would then take me to the airport. My friends Kaylee and Johan were kind enough to wake up two hours earlier than usual in order to accompany me to the bus station, therefore putting my mother's nerves at ease (although I will admit that I, too, was a bit wary at the thought of walking through town alone so early). Within a couple of hours I was on the plane and headed for Madrid! Once the plane landed, I was able to navigate my way through the airport, only getting lost two or three times between my gate and the baggage claim...
After meeting up with Shelly, we caught the metro and headed back towards her apartment. It was amazing to be away from the ship and back with a friend from school. Being able to share all of my experiences and being able to hear about all of hers was very refreshing. At one point we were walking through the streets of Madrid and it occurred to me that the other 130 people that we graduated with are currently sitting in class at school, doing what is expected of the typical 19-year-old, but we are blessed with the opportunity to be wandering the streets of Madrid together, exploring the nooks and crannies of a beautiful European city! I am so thankful that this is where God has brought me, He is so cool!
Shelly told me from the beginning that we were not going to do the typical touristy things, but instead we were going to do the things the Spanish do. This of course involves a ton of eating, one of my favorite things in the world to do! Our schedule every day revolved around food, visiting different restaurants, cafes, and markets. I ate Spanish tortilla, croquettas, patatas bravas, paella, churros and chocolate, and plenty of cafe con leche. The food was incredible, and I think I ate more in just one day than I typically would in a full week!
While we did eat plenty, there were a few other things we did as well. On Friday evening we went to the dance school so that I could see where Shelly has been working and meet the people she has been working with. On Saturday, we walked around the mall and wandered a while through the city. Saturday night we went to a flamenco show that was absolutely incredible! The show was just on a small stage with two dancers and a small band. While the audience was petite, the dancing was phenomenal. As a dancer myself, I was able to appreciate the difficulty of their work. There is no way that I could move my feet the way they did! On Sunday we went to an outdoor market that wound its way through the streets. The vendors went on for miles, selling clothes, leather bags, souvenirs, and other interesting things. One vendor sold a huge assortment of beautiful scarves all for two euros. Thankfully RyanAir has major bag restrictions, so the lack of room to carry things home kept me from buying everything in sight. I picked out just one purple and green scarf to remember my trip by.
Monday morning I had to head to the airport at 4 o'clock, so rather than going to bed early Shelly and I decided to utilize our last hours together by staying up all night. Talking about home and friends was so refreshing, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed talking with someone who knows all of my friends back home! At 4 o'clock a taxi came to carry me to the airport and my long journey back to the ship began. At 10:30 I finally made it back into the ship, more than ready to go to bed.
While this weekend was a wonderful getaway and I absolutely loved every minute of it, I didn't realize how much I would miss the ship! Walking back up the gangway on Monday morning felt like I was coming back home. I'm beginning to realize how difficult it will be to leave the Ship for good. I now have less than nine weeks left till I head back to the States, two of which will be spent sailing to Togo. I am praying that the Lord will help me to feel closure as my time on the Ship begins to wind down. In only 5 weeks my close friend Kaylee will go home and from that point I know that it will really begin to feel like it is time to go. At this point, however, I know that I am not at all ready to go back!

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